May jobs report: Sunny with a chance of more hiring
Daniel Zhao
Chief Economist at Glassdoor | Jun 5, 2026
The latest jobs numbers are out from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. What do they mean for job seekers, employers and investors? Here’s a quick take from Glassdoor’s Chief Economist Daniel Zhao.
The hot spring weather is extending into the summer as strong job gains continue for the third straight month. Today’s May jobs report extends a streak of solid job gains and provides some optimism that the job market is firming after a slow start to the year. Storm clouds from political uncertainty and rising energy prices still loom large on the horizon, but for the time being, employers are continuing to expand payrolls.
Key stats
- Payroll employment grew by 172,000 in May, slightly slower than the 179,000 in April and slower than the 214,000 in March. April was revised up from 115,000 and March was revised up from 185,000, totalling an upward revision of 93,000 across March & April. Payroll employment has averaged 188,333 over the last 3 months, the fastest 3-month average pace since March 2024 as the job market firms.
- The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3% in May for the third straight month.
- Average hourly earnings grew by 3.4% year-over-year in May, down from 3.6% in April.
Jobs growth broadens outside of health care
Health care & social assistance has been a pillar of jobs growth over the last few years. During 2024, the sector accounted for 60% of jobs added and in 2025, it actually accounted for over 100% of jobs gained as all other industries actually lost 47,500 compared to the 57,200 added.
So far in 2026, health care & social assistance has continued to grow, but other industries are also helping to pick up the slack. In 2026 year-to-date, health care & social assistance has accounted for 48% of jobs added and that’s visible in May data as well as the sector added 47,200 jobs while all other sectors added 124,800 jobs—meaning health care & social assistance accounted for just 27% of total jobs growth in May. The broadening of jobs growth provides more confidence in the sustainability of recent jobs growth.
Rising energy prices bite into wage growth
Rising energy prices threaten to raise the specter of inflation for American consumers once again. Consumer prices rose 3.8% year-over-year in April, according to the BLS’s April CPI report, indicating that real wage growth was negative in April (+3.6% year-over-year) as prices rose faster than wages. May is likely to be a second straight month of negative real wage growth over the year when May CPI is released next Wed June 10. Even as American angst over higher prices has remained elevated over the last few years, May 2023 is the last time before the last few months with negative real wage growth over the year.
New grads enter slightly improved job market
With graduation season well underway, a new crop of recent graduates is entering the job market. The sluggish hiring environment has left new grads feeling frozen out of the job market.
The unemployment rate in May was unchanged at 4.3%, but for young workers aged 20–24 years old, the unemployment rate actually improved to 7.2% down from 7.6% in April as well as 8.2% in May 2025.
The higher level points to the difficulty that younger workers always face when entering the job market and trying to get their first jobs. But the improvement does suggest that new grads this year might have a little more luck than their predecessors from last year.
More charts
Payroll gains of 172,000 in May and upward revisions to March and April boost the 3-month trailing average to 188,333, which is the fastest 3-month pace of jobs growth since March 2024. A nice improvement after 2 years of sluggish hiring and despite fears of slowdown at the start of this year.
Health care & social assistance is still a large driver of job gains, but we are seeing a broader base of industries also support job gains including construction, manufacturing and state & local governments in May. Finance was a drag, losing 22,000 jobs.
Year-to-date, health care & social assistance and leisure & hospitality are stable strong sources of jobs growth. Manufacturing, professional & business services, construction, retail, transportation & warehousing have all improved substantially from the second half of 2025 which many flipping from outright job losses to job gains. Government shows a similar trend, though this is driven in part by the federal deferred resignation program pushing out many workers in October 2025 while state and local governments have buoyed government hiring. By contrast, information (which includes tech and media), financial services, and education are still weak, with net job losses so far in 2026.
The unemployment rate was flat at 4.3% in May, unchanged for the third straight month. The unemployment rate remains in a healthy range by historical standards.
Labor force participation was unchanged at 61.8% after declining in recent months.
Prime-age (25–54) labor force participation actually ticked up slightly to 83.9% and remains a touch below recent peaks.
The story is similar for the prime-age employment-population ratio with a small uptick in May, up to 80.8%, which leaves the ratio just a touch below recent peaks.
The Black unemployment rate fell to 6.6% in May, the lowest level in a year (since 6.1% in May 2025).
Daniel Zhao
Daniel Zhao is Chief Economist at Glassdoor. On Glassdoor's Economic Research team, he has conducted research using Glassdoor's unique data on a variety of topics affecting job seekers and employers ranging from the health of the job market to pay transparency to employee engagement & retention. His work has been cited in publications like the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review and more. Prior to joining the Economic Research team, he also worked on improving the user experience for Glassdoor’s consumer jobs product and mobile app. He holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard College.
